Fuel for class

[Guest dragonfly7]

Does anyone have suggestions about a good meal before class and when to eat it (like how many hours before, etc)? I find that towards the tail end of class I don't have enough energy, I feel "tuckered out" and just plain tired. Especially if I decide to take a swing class (which I do once a week) after my basic class. I was wondering if there were certain types of food that would be good as "fuel" for one to two hours of sustained muscle activity.

 

Thanks!

 

p.s. This board is such a great resource.

[Garyecht]

I’ve never liked to eat anything immediately before physical activity. Unless you are engaged in an activity like professional bicycle racing or marathon running where you are expending calories at an unbelievable rate for a very long time, your body will survive fine during exercise without food. In dance you do not use that many calories. If you tire, I would suggest that your problem is more with your conditioning than with lack of food.

 

If you just have to eat something, I think it can be pretty much anything you want as long as it is in small quantities. Some people will say easy to digest things like fruit, fruit juices, but I’ve known people who eat other things before exercise and they seem to do fine. Your body will tell you what it wants.

 

Ideally, you want to approach exercise of any kind with an empty stomach. Just feels better.

[Chat De Pas]

I agree that eating anything immediately before class is probably not a good idea - a full stomach will just drag you down.

 

But I have found that a bit of food about two hours before class will keep the tummy from growling during your plies, and will give you enough energy to last through the reverence!

 

My personal favorite is a banana and some yogurt.

 

Carolyn ;o)

[Guest Calliope]

I used to have the same problem.

My nutritionist recommended water a half hour before and a fruit (banana or orange) 15 minutes before. Your body burns that sugar first, before using it's own.

[Mel Johnson]

And at this point, I think we've said enough. Even for adult dancers, threads about diet are off limits. Too much well-intentioned, but inappropriate information gets passed that way. What if what your doctor said was fine for you would set off an allergic reaction in somebody else? I'd hate to feel that we'd set up that situation, so I think it best just to close the thread.